The Ekiti State Governor, Peter Ayodele Fayose, yesterday, joined other Nigerians calling for the restructuring of the country, stressing that only holistic restructuring will entrench true federalism in Nigeria.
Fayose, lamented that it was strange and ironic that the All Progressives Congress (APC), which was at the forefront of the agitation for true federalism as the opposition party a few years ago, was now against restructuring as the ruling party.
The governor, who hailed the position as expressed on Thursday, by the South-West APC, said the party must now go beyond playing to the gallery and set machineries in motion to restructure the country.
A statement issued in Ado-Ekiti, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, quoted Fayose as saying that, “under the present APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria is returning to full-blown unitary system of government.”
He said, “It is on record that the APC said at a debate on ‘Addressing the Rising Insecurity in Nigeria, what is the Master Plan?’, organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) on December 18, 2014, that it would ensure true federalism and adequate community policing through the establishment of state-controlled police so as to curb the protracted security challenges in the country.
“Sadly enough, now that it is the ruling party, the APC is no longer talking about true federalism, especially the state police that it canvassed while in the opposition,” he argued.
Fayose, who said that states must be strengthened for the country to develop, noted that; “Nigeria developed faster in the 1950s and 1960s when the government ran on a confederation, with the regions running their own affairs almost autonomously.
“A situation where there are mineral resources in a state and the state cannot do anything about them without approval from the Federal Government will not foster the development that we all yearn for.
“A situation where the Federal Government has turned itself into ‘lord and master’ over other federating units in the country, using federal agencies to oppress even state governors is not acceptable.
“It was in this spirit that the immediate past Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government organised a National Conference in 2014, and far-reaching decisions were made by eminent Nigerians during the conference,” Fayose noted.
According to him, “Sadly enough, we are now being told by our President that report of the conference has been thrown into the dustbin of history. This is not good enough, coming from a President, whose party promised restructuring, including establishment of state police,” he regretted.
“It will, therefore, serve the collective interest of Nigeria and its people for the report of the 2014 National Conference to be considered by President Muhammadu Buhari with a view to, once and for all, resolving the various national questions that are holding down the country,” he argued.